Over the course of the 2022 DP World Tour season, DP World created a revolutionary shipping container in a mission to fill it with lost and unused golf balls to give them a second life in grassroots golf.
Travelling over 24,378 kilometres and powered by DP Worlds logistics, the container has visited six DP World Tour events over the past 8 months, or 236 days on tour! Starting at the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic in January, the container was unveiled. A European swing was up next, with visits to the Dutch Open, Porsche European Open, Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed, BMW International Open, BMW PGA Championship, and now on its seventh and final stop, the DP World Tour Championship Dubai.
There are five global golf organisations that will benefit from the re used golf balls, and DP World has focused on three key areas of growth for the sport – golf for the disabled, junior golf, and women’s golf – therefore hoping to inspire and encourage more people to take up the sport.
Daniel van Otterdijk, Chief Communications Officer of Group Communications at DP World, said: ‘Through our sponsorship of the DP World Tour, we wanted to find both a meaningful and memorable way to give back to the sport. This initiative is a great way for DP World to showcase our logistics and supply chain capabilities and expertise. By distributing the golf balls to the organisations that need them most, we are supporting initiatives that help to share the joy of playing golf.’
A proportion of golf balls will be distributed to the South Africa Disabled Golf Association (SADGA) and the European Disabled Golf Association (EDGA), two organisations working to ensure the sport is fully inclusive.
DP World has also partnered with two organisations promoting the sport among young people. The Junior Golf Foundation in Kenya and The Golf Foundation in India, both aim to encourage and support more children to play golf and compete in tournaments, regardless of their background.
Finally, DP World has partnered with Chicks with Sticks, an organisation promoting women’s golf across the UAE, where the company is headquartered. Their founder Jenny Hennessy, said: ‘I promise we will put the golf balls to great use – growing the game, one woman at a time.’
An impressive 130,024 golf balls have been collected over the past 236 days and will be split equally between the organisations.
